Six Aspirants for Battle of The Bards
There are six outstanding candidates who will submit themselves to the judges on the 15th of September 2024.
We are thrilled to confirm that there are six contestants for the Contest for the Third Bard of Dorchester. They are James McMillan, John Seymour, Athena Lynn, Molly Dunne, Aidan Simpson, and William Adams. The event will take place on the 15th of September 2024, 3pm at The Brownsword Hall columned area in Pummery Square.
The Bard will be appointed to serve Dorchester for a Year and a day. The competition run annually in the second or third week of September. The aspirant Bards will present one of their own poems written to a prompt, their own interpretation or performance of a poem by Thomas Hardy and their Bardic Manifesto.
The event will be hosted and compered by Peter Roe, The Second Bard of Dorchester.
The Judging Panel will be five members representing different organisations. Kevan Manwaring, 3rd Bard of Bath, Academic and Author of The Bardic Handbook; Rob Casey former Bard of Exeter and founder of Bridport’s Apothecary spoken word night; Marc Chutter, Chairman and Academic Director of The Thomas Hardy Society; Jean Lang, Chair of The Trustees of The Dorset Museum; and one other to be selected from the public on the day.